Taiwanese tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Belgian partner, Elise Mertens, took home the women’s doubles trophy at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on Saturday, after beating Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova and Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina.
Hsieh and Mertens defeated their opponents 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 in 1 hour, 34 minutes to earn US$414,500 in prize money.
The victory meant Mertens defended her women’s doubles title at the BNP Paribas Open, despite it being with a different partner.
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA Today
It was Hsieh’s third title in the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. She won the title with Peng Shuai (彭帥) of China in 2014 and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in 2018.
It was also the second doubles title that Hsieh and Mertens have won this year, after their win at Wimbledon in July.
“It was a really tight first set,” Mertens said. “I think it could have gone either way, but I think at the tiebreak we played more solid than them.”
“They put their first serve in and it was definitely difficult to get the advantage. We tried to play aggressive — Su-wei at the net, me from the back so she can cross. It all clicked a little bit better in the second set,” she said.
The win marks a milestone 30th career Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) doubles title for 35-year-old Hsieh, while Mertens now has 14 WTA doubles titles to her name, the WTA Tour Web site said.
“It’s really fun to play with different partners... I collect a lot of friends,” the Web site quoted Hsieh as saying after the match.
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